Macadamia farmers, traders fault Moses Kuria for allowing exportation of raw nuts

Macadamia farmers and exporters in Kiambu County now want the government to promptly ban the exportation of raw macadamia nuts to boost their earnings.

The farmers decried that since Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria lifted the ban on macadamia exportation, they have been making huge losses and as such, urgent interventions are required to stabilize the crippling market.

They decried that since the April ban, macadamia prices have been drastically dropping with a kilogram of macadamia which used to be sold between Ksh150 and Ksh200 now going for as low as Ksh20.

Led by Dorothy Muthoni from Gatundu North, the farmers regretted that the deteriorating nuts market will soon edge them out of business unless prompt interventions are made by the government.

Muthoni noted that most processors who used to buy the nuts at competitive prices are no longer interested in their products, a move that has left them at the mercy of brokers who are buying the nuts at throw-away prices.

“We are now thinking of leaving this business for other ventures. We can no longer support the education of our children through the sale of nuts as the brokers are now buying at as low as Ksh20 per kilogram, a similar quantity that used to go for Ksh200,” said Muthoni.

The furious farmers urged the government to speedily lift the ban to help recover from the shocks of harsh economic times and Covid-19 that had weighed down the industry.

“How Moses Kuria moved to lift the ban is still a shock to many who never expected him to act in a way that punishes the common farmer. With the actions of the Trade CS, this industry is slowly dying and farmers who have been relying on nuts are now impoverished,” said John Mungai, a farmer from Ngorongo village in Gatundu North.

The farmers decried that even the thousands of employees in macadamia processing plants are at the verge of being rendered jobless as most of them have been making losses.

They regretted that the government has been taking actions that severely affect the crucial industry without engaging key stakeholders, a move that could further sink the country’s economy that greatly benefits from the exportation of processed nuts.

Jungle Nuts Limited CEO Patrick Wainaina at the same time regretted that gains made in the industry for decades could be lost with the lifting of the ban.

Speaking to journalists in Thika, Wainaina, whose company has been exporting processed nuts, lamented that the ban had brought about increased competition in the industry, a move that saw the price increase and ultimately better income for farmers.

With the lifting of the ban, Wainaina said farmers and employees in macadamia processing plants will bear the brunt of losses while the country is set to lose billions it earns annually from the exportation of processed nuts.

Effects of Kuria’s directive

Since 2011, forex generated from the macadamia industry increased from Ksh1 billion to Ksh40 billion annually thereby making the industry one of the country’s top foreign income earners.

“Kenya had moved from number six globally to number three in sales and production of nuts after South Africa and Australia. This has been one of the fastest growing sectors in the country but might end up losing all the gains made in the last ten years,” regretted Wainaina.

Exporting raw unprocessed nuts especially to China, he said, is equivalent to exporting over 40,000 job opportunities that processing factories offer Kenyans.

He urged the government to embark on the promotion of value addition for Kenyan products to increase jobs and forex and enact laws that cushion farmers from exploitation by middlemen.